


I need to tell you something…

by Octogator



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AND SMOOCHES, F/F, F/M, Papyrus learns to cook, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Sans is a salty protective older brother, Sans learns nothing, THE KIDS ARE THIRSTY FOR HUGS, You learn to not be an ass, but he ain't dumb, fluff for days, papyrus is a sweetheart, sfw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7624906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Octogator/pseuds/Octogator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You fall for Papyrus, not in a sexual way per say. But you wouldn’t turn down some romantic hand holding and smooching. You think he might feel the same way but every time one of you gets close to bring up the subject SOMEONE interupts you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chap. 1 It's a beautiful day...

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted something that was mostly humor and Fluff. So here you go~

It’s a beautiful day outside,

The birds are singing,

the flowers are blooming,

And kids like you…

Are running late to work.

Why? What on earth possessed you to drive in front of city hall? You could have gone a back way and gotten to work sooner. You could have parked downtown and WALKED and gotten to work sooner.

But no. You decided to drive to work today. You decided to to take the shortest route from point A to point B.

You decided that it probably wasn’t worth the jail time to run down the protesters blocking the street. Well… the jury was still out on that one but you accept that everyone has their own opinion. You understand that some people will fight tooth and nail to try and force their opinion down your throat.

It was just a fact of the world. There would always be the fire and brimstone types that preach on street corners, there would always be the conservative types that picket in front of the planned parenthood clinics. But more recently, there were these new groups of protesters, if you could call them that. Some of their actions border on assault and vandalism.

Holding up signs that proclaim things like “Human Pride”, “Demons go back to hell”, “We put them Underground for a reason”, “Monsters stole our jobs, what next?” And well… those were just the more tasteful. These Anti-monster groups popped up overnight after the monsters were freed nearly three years ago. They died down for a time when the negotiations seemed deadlocked and monsters were stuck in a perpetual state of “not citizens,” but just last month something amazing happened.

The negotiations were over, monsters were considered honorary citizens, they could work, have homes, go to school, and be protected by the country just like everyone else. It was amazing, a huge step forward for equality for all races and species of sentient life on this little blue planet.

It may have taken two and a half years longer than it should've, but Monsters were now considered “people” by law.

Of course, ever since the protesters and the monster hate groups have come back in full force to try and fight it.

Hence why you were ten minutes late to work and in a sour mood. There must have been over fifty protesters in front of City Hall today, enough that they were blocking the street. Some of the ballsier ones had shoved pamphlets under windshield wipers.

You parked your car down the street, almost slamming the door shut and locking it. You ripped the pamphlets from your windshield and started to rip it up. You had to spend the last five miles driving with the demonized illustration of the monster king fighting an elderly bearded man in a dress staring you down and you were SO done with it. You took no small amount of joy as you sprinkled your freshly made confetti into the trashcan in front of your work. Satisfied with your moderately petite revenge, you took a deep breath.

You could do this, you made it to work and work was safe from the bigotry of the outside world. You didn’t even have to deal with bullshit customers most of the time. You were a chef. You spent most of your time in the back.

Hell, you can count on one hand how many times you’ve had to come to the front room to deal with a problem.

As calm as you could make yourself you turn and take the few steps you needed to push open the front door. Your eyes scanned the room briefly, looked like most of the tables were set and judging from the smell coffee was on.

You work in a cute, little, themed diner nestled downtown. Unless you were shown it by a local you probably wouldn’t find it. The theme? Every campy movie that aired between the years 1950 and 1990. Oh, and also Elvis. With its darker tones and edgier atmosphere, it had more the look of a bar than a diner.

Shit, the place even kept bar hours. It opened at eleven and closed at five in the morning. It might not be a bar, but it certainly catered to the nightlife. Where else was a drunk to go to get pancakes at three in the morning?

This little diner was a haven for local drunks and college students pulling all-nighters alike. Your little home away from home.

But what was home without a beautiful wife?

The doors to the kitchen swung open and lo and behold your angel appeared.

Okay, so maybe Rodney didn’t fit the storybook image of “Beautiful work wife/manager/nagging meddler” but the six foot beast of a ginger with a glorious beard would always be your platonic princess.

In your mind, you were pretty sure he would have a chuckle at your mental ramblings, but on the off chance he didn’t you’ve seen him actually throw out the more unruly drunks. He could get some distance with them if he really wanted to.

A gruff but kind voice called your name, pulling your focus back to the matter at hand.

“You're late. You're never late. Of all the days you picked to be late you pick the day Im’a have ya’ train a new hire?” Ah, Rodney’s face was starting to turn the same color as his hair. This was not a good sign.

You were in for a proper nagging if you didn’t act quickly.

“I would have left earlier if I knew I was getting someone new in back, Rod. Probably wouldn’t have mattered with all the protesters in front of City Hall, it's a mess out there.” You held your hands up in surrender.

Rodney paused, a look of worry crossing his face. You don’t think you’ve ever seen his face go from being that red to this white so quickly before.

Well, you could name one time, but it was agreed that you never speak of that time.

“They’ve been getting pretty ballsy.” He gave you a calculating look. That was a new one. Normally you could read your work-wife like a book, but this? He looks worried, almost afraid.

You fight the urge to look behind you. He... couldn’t be afraid of you? He was a good foot taller than you and twice as wide. He could lift you one handed if he felt like it. It took you a half moment longer to realize it wasn’t you that worried him, it was your potential opinion.

“They’ll die down eventually. Monsters have every right to etch out their lives on the surface like the rest of us citizens. Honorary or otherwise.”

He seemed to relax. With a deep breath, you did too. You didn’t often share your opinions with people. Opinions always seemed to kill friendships one way or another and you preferred to stay quiet or neutral on most subjects unless pressed.

“That's good. I’m glad you feel that way. Especially since our new hire happens to be one.”

The sharp arch of your eyebrows could not properly portray your surprise. You’ve only ever seen monsters on TV. You were a few hours away from the mountain they came out of so really it was only a matter of time before you saw one in person. The remains of your sour mood drain from you as it was replaced with curiosity and a hint of excitement.

“Look, I know you like to make a game of breaking in your new underlings, but could you maybe be gentle with this one? Despite appearances, I get the feeling he’s pretty young. He was so excited when I gave him the job he got teary-eyed and picked me up in a hug.”

Your mind fritzed out for a moment at the mental image. Just how big was this monster if he could pick up Rodney?

“I know you're not one for special treatment, but he’s a big cinnamon roll and I want to protect him. Do it for me?” Oh god, damn him. Damn Rodney and those pretty green eyes and his long lashes fluttering at you. A man this big and intimidating had no right being able to pull off a pair of puppy dog eyes like this.

“Fiiiine,” You groan out, sidestepping around him. You need to get away from those eyes before you do something stupid.

“But only for you, princess,” You call back pushing through the doors to the kitchen.

At the slightly offended call of your name, you glance back to see Rodney blushing for all his worth. He was also fighting back a smile.

You shot the hairy tomato a grin before turning your focus towards the kitchen in front of you. It didn’t take you long to spot the new hire, and you could see how he easily picked up Rodney.

Standing with his back to you yapping with one of the servers was a seven-foot-tall skeleton monster who looked… oddly buff for a skeleton.

Well then.

It looks like you're doomed to a life of being towered over by swole coworkers, even if this particular coworker had no business being swol. Well… maybe just his arms and face were skeletal? It wasn’t like you could really see under his shirt and it would be rude to ask… probably.

Stupid Rodney, making you promise to be nice. You wouldn’t have worried about being “rude” otherwise.

You had always been one to speak your mind and when it came to questions you had always been one to ask first and apologize if it caused offense. This particular way of battling your own ignorance has earned you a handful of black eyes and more slaps than you care to count growing up but has always left you less ignorant and with a better understanding of the issues of the world.

You remove your jacket and swap it out for your work shirt, your back to the other people in the room.

Well, now you had Google to help you navigate the delicate intricacies of the human race but that still didn’t help with the matter at hand.

What knowledge there was about monsters on the internet was propaganda or creepypasta. Not exactly the stuff you want to take as fact.

You really hoped this… Crap, Rodney didn’t give you his name, you hope he isn’t a slapper, especially considering your first glance, you were pretty sure he could fit your head in one of his hands.

Still, you promised to be nice and that's what you do. Nice people don’t get slapped, right? Right.

Enough lollygagging. You were ready. You were going to go greet your new employee, hold back all of your invasive questions about monsters until a later date, and start his training.

Glancing at your watch before taking it off and stuffing it in your jacket pocket, you wince.

Welp, nothing like trial by fire, hopefully, the morning wasn’t too busy.

With that in mind, you head over to the skeleton and the server who has officially been slack for the last two minutes.

“Sorry to interrupt, Stacy, but I really should show my new sou chef the ropes before we get busy.” Your voice was sickly sweet and you even plastered on a fake smile. It worked better than expected. You’ve never seen someone pale so quickly.

Rodney made you promise to be nice to the new guy. Everyone else was fair game.

“Oh! Y-yes of course! Um… Well, good luck, Papyrus! I’ll talk to you later!” Excellent, you had his name now. You wouldn’t have to ask for it. Stacy stammers another apology as she leaves, dropping your name before disappearing.

Good, one less thing you have to do.

“IT WAS PLEASANT TALKING TO YOU, HUMAN STACY!” Oh wow. Could this guy project. Your ears were ringing and you were standing a few feet away so not to strain your neck from looking up. This guy had a good two feet on you.

“ARE YOU THE HUMAN THAT IS TO BE TRAINING ME? I WILL FORGIVE YOU FOR BEING LATE. IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE TO BE NERVOUS TO MEET SOMEONE AS GREAT AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

“Heh, yeah. Sorry, I won’t make a habit of it.” It wasn’t the truth, hell, you didn’t even know you were training today, but you didn’t really want to explain that or the protesters to this guy.

Two strong arms, wrap around you and your feet leave the ground.

Oh god, he was a hugger.

“I’M SO GLAD, HUMAN CHEF! I WAS WORRIED THAT YOU WERE A LAZYBONES LIKE MY BROTHER!” Welp, this answers one of your questions. You could distinctly feel boney ribs and shoulder blades under your arms as you hug/cling for your life back.

“Hah, well, if you put me down we can get started!” Oh god, either his excitement was catchy or your false chipper attitude was good enough to fool yourself.

Your feet met the ground and you can’t help but let out a sigh of relief. It was good to be back on earth. You take a moment to straighten yourself before looking back up at the large skeleton.

He’s so excited. He looked like he was vibrating with the effort of holding back.

You had a bad feeling that you were going to have a hard time keeping this one busy.

“I AM READY WHEN YOU ARE, CHEF HUMAN.” He practically cheered before striking a pose.

You swear you felt a breeze.

“Well, then let's get started,” You offered him an honest grin in return. “It's the weekday so we shouldn’t be easy enough to do your training throughout the day.”

Oh boy, you’ve never been wrong.

“Papyrus, why are you punching the vegetables?”

“TO BEAT THEM INTO SUBMISSION!”

“Aah, well, for this recipe we need to cut them up, not crush them.”

“Pap, that griddle is on way too high!”

“UNDYNE SAYS MORE HEAT MEANS MORE PASSION!”

“Ah… Our customers prefer us to cook with a little less passion.”

“I SEE, IT MUST BE A HUMAN COOKING METHOD!”

“Is… Is that glitter?”

“YES! I NOTICED YOUR KITCHEN WAS OUT. LUCKILY I NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT SOME.”

“We have to stick to the recipe. Glitter can make some people sick.”

“LIKE AN ALLERGY?”

“Kind of?”

“Did… did you swap out that order for a plate of spaghetti?”

“YES… IT IS BY FAR A MORE SUPERIOR DISH.”

“Okay. Not going to lie, I fully agree with you on that one. But we should probably not do that again.”

Gods, stars, and anyone who was listening, you were wrong.

You can handle a kitchen by yourself--hell, you’ve done it enough times--but with Papyrus, it was like running a kitchen while babysitting a seven-foot tall toddler pumped full of caffeine.

Sure, you let that last one slide. The guy was too drunk to notice his order of pancakes was kinda noodly.

But the rest.

God, the rest had your hands searching your pockets for the cigarettes you gave up months ago.

You didn’t know who you want to smack more: Rodney for hiring this sweetheart of a monster without knowing anything about his ability or this mystical Undyne who apparently taught Papyrus everything he knew--which, as far as you were concerned, gave Papyrus negative cooking points.

Looking at the lanky monster while watching him flip an egg “gently” like you showed him, just a few hours ago you let out a sigh.

You couldn’t blame Rodney. Papyrus had a spark in him, charisma, enthusiasm, flexibility. You didn’t have to remind yourself once to be nice when Papyrus turned those sparkling sockets towards you.

This was all Undyne’s fault. You hope you never meet her face to face because you probably won’t be able to hold back the urge to hit her for teaching Papyrus so many bad kitchen habits.

The doors opened and in comes the night chef. An old man with a long beard he would stuff into a hair net. He looks like he was pulled from the backwoods and someone stuffed him in an apron.

Craig was a quiet sort and kept to himself, but he was nice enough.

His appearance meant one thing. It was time for you to go home and sleep. Well… Once you took care of something first.

“Hey, Papyrus? Before you head out, can we chat for a minute?”


	2. Chap. 2 The truth hurts… Oh god please don’t cry.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You Tell Papyrus a thing. Then you make some poor choices.

Oh god. This was awful.

The entire shift Papyrus had been a bubbly fountain of happy and bravado. No matter how many times you corrected him or told him he was doing something the wrong way, you would get a cheerful grin and an attentive gaze as you correct the mistakes.

But this. You swear you saw sparks dim in his eye sockets. His grin looked forced and he became more rigid. 

“...Of course, human.”

This was like kicking a puppy.

You promised to be nice. You’re internally kicking yourself as you wait out front for him. What part of this is being nice? 

No.

This is nice, this is nice for you. You're going to be honest. It’s nicer to be honest to someone than lie. From the way Papyrus talks about his cooking, this lie has gone on long enough.

The door opens and you push yourself from the wall. Papyrus is still wearing that strange smile that doesn't reach his eye sockets. It’s funny how much you're missing that spark of happiness that seem to lurk in them.

“Papyrus…”

He held up a gloved hand stopping you. He seems to be collecting himself. You take a moment to asses the new additions to his outfit. 

A long dark brown coat that reached about mid thigh was cinched at his waist and he now had a long cape-like scarf--the same red as his gloves--wrapped around his neck. He looked good, like he should be coming out of a much nicer looking restaurant. Hell of a lot better than your denim jacket and black skinny jeans.    
  
“Am I fired?”

It was posed as a question, but the utter defeat in his voice--like he has already accepted it--is like a knife twisting in your ribs.

“I take it this is not the first time this has happened?”

“This is the eleventh job I’ve had in the last month.” You didn’t like this quiet Papyrus. He made you sad.

“Papyrus… You’re a great person. I’ve known you less than a day and you brighten any room you enter. Your joy and enthusiasm spread to those around you.” He brightens at your words, some of the sparkle is back in his eyes.

So of course stupid honest you has to try and stomp it out.

“However, I have never meet someone who cooked so poorly.” Yup, there it goes. Time to kick him while he’s down. “Perhaps some of it is a culture thing and monster cooking is a lot different than human cooking. I know most of our clientele is drunk, but that's no excuse to serve them subpar food.”

Shit… you didn’t think skeletons could cry, but Papyrus looked about ready to spill tears any minute. God damn Rodney for making you promise to be nice. And God damn Papyrus, too, for being such a loveable sweetheart and making you WANT to be nice.

You were going to regret this.

“Papyrus.” You tried to make your voice as soft as you could. “I don’t want to fire you. Just because you're not a very good cook right now doesn't mean you don’t have the potential to be! You went from charing eggs to making perfectly over easy ones in just a few hours. I know you can learn.”

The tears were still there in the corners of his eye sockets, but in the black void there was a spark of hope, a hint of a smile on his teeth.

Papyrus was quick as a snake. You really should have seen it coming. 

Your feet left the ground for the second time that day and two strong boney arms held you tightly, against a firm chest.

You hug him back, trying not to think about the fact that Papyrus was currently crying orange tears into your chest. Tentatively, you stroke the back of his skull. 

“You're not fired Papyrus, but if you want to stay on you have a lot to learn.” His arms tighten around you before he set you back down. 

You both took a step back so it was easier to make eye contact and you were happy to see that his bravado was back.

“I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN, HUMAN! I WILL MASTER EACH TECHNIQUE YOU TEACH ME!”

You couldn’t help but grin back. “I don’t doubt it. Here, let's trade numbers and we can schedule your first lesson.”

“NYEH HEH HEH, OF COURSE, HUMAN!”

As you trade phones and start typing in your number, you would have never guessed at the start of the day you would meet your first monster, make him cry, get probably one of the nicest and pokeyest hugs of your life, and then pretty much promise him your days off for the near future.

You didn’t make friends easily. But as you type in “HUMAN CHEF” as your contact info and Papyrus returns your phone with the addition of “THE GREAT PAPYRUS,” you can’t help but think that this has the potential of being a great friendship.

You part ways after your little chat with the understanding that he should come into work an hour early for the near future.

You were hopeful. A few extra hours working during kitchen prep and more indepth lessons on your day off you were confident that Papyrus will master the simple breakfast-heavy menu before the month is out.

You believe a bit less in yourself. You're an honest person. Not a particularly nice person. The few friends you have have known you for years. You’re blunt and to the point. You hate lying. You hate it as much as you hate false kindness.

You really didn’t want to hurt Papyrus with your dry humor and sharp words. Hell, you made him cry on his first day of work. You never wanted to see something as heart wrenching as that again.

You make it home in record time. Protesters thankfully clear from City Hall now that it's after hours. 

You live in a cute little flat on the fifth floor of your building. It’s an older complex in the “historical district.” You're pretty sure it's just a fancy term they toss around so they don’t have to install central air and heating and still charge through the roof. 

Still, you loved it. From the ritzy crown molding and the bay windows, to the dinged up wooden floor.

Best of all? Your bathtub had feet! Who doesn't love a bathtub with feet? Drunk you, drunk you doesn’t love that bathtub. Drunk you had stubbed many a toe on that bathtubs cute little feet. But right now you? Right now you was filling that bathtub up with just shy of scalding water while you pick out one of your fizzy bath bombs.

You needed a good soak to get the stress out of your shoulders and relax enough to fall asleep.

Water turned off you drop your selection into the tub and let it dissolve as you undress. 

Its cooled just enough to be comfortable by the time you sink in and you let out a sigh that's just shy of a moan as you relax. 

You let your mind go blank as you just soak in the warm water and light floral scent. 

You hadn’t even noticed how much tension you held in your back and neck until you started to let it go.

By the time your bath water cools to the point that it's just barely warm, you hook the plug with a foot, letting the tub start to drain and get up to rinse off and deal with your hair. While you scrub your hair with your pruny fingers, you start to make a battle plan for what to do about Papyrus.

He wasn’t a lost cause. You had him frying eggs correctly within a few hours and by the end of the night he had made some acceptable pancakes.

But whoever this Undyne was has done some damage to the very core of his cooking knowledge. 

Drying off you continue your mental plan.

It would have to be back to the basics then. Start with knife skills and food safety, and work your way up.

You wonder if he has a decent set of kitchen knives as you flop onto bed. You’ll find out and if need be, you can help him find a set he likes. 

Maybe you can make a trip to the farmers market, teach him about fresh produce. Oh, and you’ll have to teach him how to pick out good meat as well, so that meant a trip to the butcher. Sometimes your diner did fish fridays, would that warrant a trip down to the docks to learn seafood? Probably.

You couldn’t help but grin into your pillow. There was no use fighting it, you were getting excited at the prospect of teaching some.

And teaching someone as enthusiastic as Papyrus? Now that's just icing on the cake.

You work swing shift, and nights on the weekends. You had fridays off. Normally friday was your shopping/housework day and helped shift your internal clock to prepare for the night shifts. 

Soon Papyrus would be in the mix, but until than you had three more weekdays to do some on-the-job training. 

For that you intended to wake up early. However, not quite this early.

Six. Six in the goddamn am. 

Some fucker was calling you at six am.

Blindly you pat your bed looking for your phone. Snagging the charger, you follow it until your fingers meet the familiar rectangle. Your finger drags across the screen until it beeps in acknowledgment.

“Lo?”

“GOOD MORNING, HUMAN CHEF!”

Oh god, did you hit speakerphone? You are quick to pull it away from your face and let it sit on the pillow beside you.

“MMh. Morning, Papyrus. What's up.” Besides you. The loud skeleton sounds like he’s been up for at least an hour. Or maybe he just always sounded awake. 

“I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW I AM REALLY EXCITED FOR OUR COOKING LESSON AND I UM….I…” He falters slightly and you sit up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

“I wanted to thank you.” He pauses like he’s trying to gather himself, figure out how to say what he’s trying to. You don’t know if you want to let him.

“It's no problem, Papyrus! I’m excited for our lesson, too. It's been awhile since I’ve gotten to teach someone!” You Grin into your phone, as if he could see you. Really, you were excited.

“I’M GLAD, HUMAN! I SHALL SEE YOU IN A FEW HOURS!”

“Yup! Can’t wait!”

“GOODBYE, HUMAN!”

“Goodbye, Papyrus.”

Welp, five minutes after six. You would have woken up in an hour anyway. You were the kind who woke up early no matter how late you went to bed. 

You’re up and getting ready before you know, heading out early enough to hopefully beat Papyrus by half an hour.

You need to have a chat with Rodney.

Nine thirty seven you swing open the door to the diner, morning sun casting you in shadow as you lower your head just enough to level your eyes at the burly redhead. 

You were quite proud of your entrance. You spent the whole drive planning it. You would throw open the door, stare long enough to make him uncomfortable. Then you would step in, let the door swing shut, slowly stalk towards him as you slip off your glasses. You would slide up to the bar and finally break the silence with the dreaded, “Wifey, we need to talk.”

It was going to be soo cool, you were could to be as badass as your stature permitted! You had to spend a good five minutes outside schooling yourself not to let your giddiness show!

But no, none of this got to happen, because Rodney wasn’t at the bar and he wasn’t alone. 

As much as you joked, Rodney would never truly be your wife, you were so far out of his type it wasn’t even funny. However you had mixed feelings about your work-wifes current bo.

Alexander was just as tall as Rodney, though a bit leaner and blonde. His thick russian accent has faded over the years and he always stood with a nearly military stiffness. You really didn’t want to to think about him playing muscular grab ass with your cuddly ginger work-wife. 

But really as far as you were concerned, nobody was good enough for Rodney.

You were brought out of your silent and slightly hateful glare at Alexander’s back as the door swung back in and hit you in the face.

Still, you went unnoticed by the couple.

Not that you could blame them. They looked like they were about to break-up, or hate fuck. Either way you were contemplating taking a walk around the block and then retrying your dramatic entrance. 

Fate had other ideas. 

“You hired a monster! I know you're stupid, Rod, but really? You're opening up the diner to all kinds of hate crimes. They don’t belong here. If you know what's good for you, you’ll get rid of it.”

You wonder if you’ll get fired if you break one of the bar stools across Alexander’s back. You wonder if you could swing it with enough force to actually do that. You don’t notice the shadow of someone coming to stand up behind you.

“Alex! They have every right. These last few years have been hell for them! More so than it's been for people like us!”  Rodney pushed Alexander away from him and turned to head back behind the bar. His eyes caught sight of you and widen slightly. Your fists tighten and you pointedly look towards one of the bar stools.

A question.

The barest of head shakes was your answer.

As Alexander let out a growl and follows Rodney behind the counter, you have every intent of ignoring his request. 

You get about half a step forward before two large boney hands wrap around your waist and pull you back. Your feet kick in the air as the door closes and let out a growl of your own. “Put me down! I’m going to fight him!”

Perhaps you shouldn’t have announced your intentions because you are not put back down. Instead you were shifted to a one armed hold as his free arm stops the door from slamming shut. You finally turn your head enough to focus to your captor.

Of course Papyrus would be early for his early lesson. He looked very serious as he took several steps away from the door, still holding you.

“You are a lot stronger than I would think a skeleton would be…” You grumble as he turns down the alley to where the kitchen access door was. He still didn’t answer. As he finally set you down. Two firm hands on your shoulders stop you from shooting through the door. 

Papyrus calls your attention with a firm call of your name. This might actually be the first time he’s said it.

“It will help nobody’s cause if you go in there and fight that man. Rodney doesn't want that.”

You curse, but still. Papyrus flinches at your swear, but holds you until he’s sure you're not going to charge in guns a blazing. 

A deep breath and you looked back up at Papyrus. He looks worried and keeps glancing at the door. You're glad you're not the only one who has to fight the urge to run to Rodney's rescue. 

“We can’t just leave him in there. Alexander’s a bully and a jerk!” You grumble. 

You catch a sad tilt to Papyrus’ ever present smile and you frown. How much of it did Papyrus hear?

“This isn’t your fault, Papyrus! Alexander is an ass!” You place one of your hands over his and give it a squeeze and offer him a smile. “Rodney’s not the type to fire someone just because his dumb boyfriend tells him to.” 

You take a breath before tugging him towards the door. He still seems to hesitate. “I won’t fight him, Paps, I got a better idea.” After a long moment, he finally lets you go.

With a grin, you pull him into the kitchen. The lights were on, but it was blessedly empty. You slip out of your jacket and over shirt, slipping on a fresh work shirt from your locker before trotting over to the little corner that acted as Rodney’s office. 

Snagging a clipboard from the top of the pile grinning at your Victory. Papyrus follows you along like a puppy, but you have to stop him at the doors leading to the main room.

You hold up a hand,pointing at him then to the kitchen before pressing your finger to your lips. He seems to understand you, though he didn’t look terribly happy about it, but gave you a nod.

Shooting him a thumbs up, you loosen your stance and rolled your neck as you skim the clipboard. 

“WIFEY~” Your volume is enough to put Papyrus to shame as you kick open the door. “It's raspberries season! Why have you not showered my kitchen in them!? I think for the next few weeks for the breakfast special, we should do crepes with a strawberry rhubarb compote and mascarpone from that local dairy. The hipsters will love it cause rhubarb is super under appreciated and who doesn’t love crepes? They’re like floppy dessert tacos, but for breakfast!” 

As soon as the doors open, the raised voices stop, but you continue with your word vomit as you continue your way behind the bar to the pot of coffee that's just finished brewing. All the while keeping your eyes on the clipboard. Filling two cups and dressing them the way you like, you finally look up.

Alexander was looking at you like you had sprouted horns and a tail. So about the same as usual. Rodney was staring at you with an open mouth, a series of emotions flashing from behind his eyes too fast for you to catch any one. 

“... I mean I guess it's bad form to eat it like a taco… but come on Rod, with the table manners of our clients you have no right judging me if I decide to eat a crepe with my fingers!” That did it. Rodney burst into a large, deep belly laugh and Alexander, well, you couldn’t care less about how Alexander felt about you.

Most of the anger and tense mood drain from the room and what's left of it is directed at you.

Alex opened his mouth, but you beat him to it. “Oh, hey, Alexander, didn’t realize you were here. Aren't you going to be late for work?” You pointedly look at the clock on your way back to the kitchen with your two cups of coffee. 

As you step through the door, Rodney is still laughing and you're pretty sure you hear Alex stopping out. 

Yup, there goes the door slamming shut.

Your eyes find Papyrus and you think you see a hint of pride in his sockets. He looks very much like he wants to hug you.

As he steps forward, you pass him the untouched cup with a grin.

“HUMAN! YOU DIDN’T DO A VIOLENCE!” He gave the cup a curious look. Oh, man, maybe you shouldn’t have assumed. Maybe he doesn't like coffee? You know he could eat and drink since you had shared you lunch/dinner break yesterday.

“YOU SPOKE SO PASSIONATELY ABOUT THAT DISH, TOO! ARE YOU GOING TO TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE IT?” You nod, taking a drink of your coffee and leading him into the kitchen area. 

“Sure, Papyrus, but first we are going back to basics!” Future you will thank the pair of you for all the prep work that this lesson will get done.

As you set out some cutting boards and different knifes, you see Papyrus take a drink of his coffee and freezes.

“Human? What is this strange beverage?” Another drink.

“You’ve never had coffee before?”

“No.”

“Oh.” You feel like you might have made a terrible mistake.


	3. Chap. 3 Back to Basics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You deal with the after effects of coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would have been posted last night but my net pooped out.

This was a terrible, terrible mistake. It took Papyrus a good five minutes for the caffeine to hit his system, but when it did.

Well.

On the bright side, between the two of you, you’ve done pretty much all the prep work for the next week. In the space of an hour. 

Papyrus may not be able to hold still, but he is still hyper focused as you explain different cutting techniques and how to handle the different knives and what they were for. It was a very basic lesson, showing him how to clean, dice, french, julian, and slice different fruits and vegetables.

He picked it up surprisingly fast, showering you with a nonstop barrage of questions. It was… nice, having someone focus so intently on what you were teaching them and hanging on to your every word. 

It was also a little nerve-wrecking with the sheer intensity of his focus.

The coffee works its way through his system just before the front opens and Papyrus crashes. 

He looks a little dazed and seems to sag slightly, stopping halfway through dicing an apple.

“Papyrus? You okay, buddy?” You question, moving up beside him and slipping the knife from his hand. With how hard the coffee hit him, you were expecting a fairly powerful crash. 

He stumbles as he turns towards you, sockets focusing on you as you place the knife on the counter and raise your hands to steady him.

As if you would be able to stop him if he collapsed. He was like, two feet taller than you. He’d crush you.

“I’M QUITE ALRIGHT, HUMAN FRIEND. I AM… I am just a little tired, suddenly.” He sways again and you gently wrap one of your hands around his arm and lead him towards the little break room/office.

“Come on, Pap, how about you have a little sit down? You deserve a break after being such a good student,” he followed you with little resistance and a hummed “Nyeh” in which you took as agreement. From the day you’ve known him, you know enough that this is probably not the norm.

It had been quite the struggle the day before to get him to take his breaks.

One glare from you sends the dishwasher and one of the waitresses practically throwing themselves off of the little loveseat in the corner of Rodney’s office and back to where they should be.

You give Papyrus a gentle shove towards the overstuffed mini couch and turn your focus to Rodney’s desk.

“Are you going to be okay, buddy? Should I call someone?” You ask as you start pulling open drawers on a quest for a particular booklet.

“No! No, I’ll be fine!” He does a very good job of forcing his usual enthusiasm and you have to give him a long look to see if he really did recover that quickly. 

“Well, there should be a food safety book in here somewhere. You can read through it until we start to get busy.” That should give him plenty of time to recover. Maybe. Probably.

“God dammit, Rod…” You grumble to yourself. You were sure that the book you wanted was in the left bottom drawer. Of course that was the only drawer that was locked. 

With a grunt, you pull the draw up and jiggle it from left to right until the lock pops.

Success! You open it and start digging for your quarry. You shove aside a change of clothes and a picture of Rodney and your arch-nemesis Alexander. Gross, they’re kissing. Finally, you pull out the thin book you are looking for. 

You leave a sticky note on the partially open drawer to let Rodney know that you were the one that popped the lock in search of the booklet before returning to Papyrus.

The lanky skeleton was half asleep in the corner of the couch. A seven foot tall skeleton curled up against the couch arm in a chef's jacket and watching you with sleepy eye… sockets have no right being that adorable.

You are quick to shove that thought to the deepest depths of your mind as you approach him with the book. You beg yourself to focus and after a moment your previous thoughts have disappeared.

“Okay, so I’m not going to lie. This book is super boring, but it’s short and does a good job of explaining food safety. Junk like proper heating and cooling temperature and stuff about cross contamination. I don’t know if that's an issue with monster food, but it can be with human food.” Papyrus gives you a slow nod before taking the book from you.

You offer him a grin and turn to head back to the kitchen, intent on storing the products of his first lesson, but he catches your hand.

Part of you registers that this is the first time you’ve touched his hands without his gloves on. The rest of you is fighting down a blush with single-minded determination.

“You’ll tell me if it gets busy and you need help?” He asks you, his usually loud voice reduced to a… “quieter” volume, which for him was about the level of a normal speaking voice. You are not stroking your thumb over the back of his hand. No. You’re… okay, yes you are, but you can’t help being curious! Oh, no. He’s blushing, and it's really cute.

“Yeah! Yeah, I’ll come and get you if I need help!” You grin back and he releases your hand.

You did not flee to the kitchen. You just… power walked. Yeah.

You easy fell into routine as you cook. You know these recipes well enough that it gives you plenty of time to think. You're not sure if this is a good thing or not.

You like Papyrus. You can’t fault yourself on that. Anyone with half a heart would like Papyrus after just a few short minutes in his presence. He was great.

No, your problem is you. Are you personally hurting so much for friendship that you will cling to the first person in ages that hasn’t been sent running by your brutal honesty and blunt nature?

Yes. Yes, you are. 

That was the problem. You're pretty sure Papyrus likes you, too, but he hasn’t seen you. Not the real you. The rude jerk ass who has no problem telling someone off, the you who probably would have gotten into a fist fight with Alexander, had Papyrus not been there to stop you.

What if he doesn’t like you when he gets to know some of your… worst character flaws?

You glance into the office when you pass off a breakfast platter and a french dip to one of the servers. Papyrus has lost the battle with his own exhaustion and is passed out on the couch.

Why is it… that meeting this one monster makes you want to strive to be a person worthy of his friendship?

An order comes in with so many alterations that it makes you cringe as you read over it. One last glance at the sleeping skelly and you chuckle. Maybe it's not such a bad thing to want to be a better person.

Regardless, you’ll be damned if you give him coffee again. You make a mental note to ask if he likes tea before you change your focus to this complicated order.

Banana pancakes, hold the banana, substitute apple. Gluten and dairy-free with a side of sourdough toast and ice cream on the pancakes. You glare out of the little window in the door to try and spot the special snowflake that ordered this. You understood and respected people with gluten allergies, really you did. One of your late high school to early college boyfriends had celiac disease and the struggle had been real when you had tried to find tasty meals you could share. You were very confident in a lot of your gluten-free recipes. 

Ah, there.

Early college girl, white and pink layered polos, big plastic sunglasses and hair that’s been bleached so many times it’s starting to friz. 

Oh! They were multiplying! Just lovely.

Two more that looked near identical other than their different colored polos and hairstyles that swept in slightly different directions came in to sit with the first girl. You could hear their obnoxious valley girl laughter from here.

You braced yourself for two more disgustingly altered meals that would be returned to you with three bites taken out of them.

Before you managed to burn a hole through the thick sheet of glass, a frizzy red beard and a pair of very pretty green eyes blocked your view. 

You knew this look. This was the “stop judging people” look. You gave your best pout and Rodney simply rolled his eyes. You made a show of laughing before pressing a kiss to the glass separating the pair of you. 

This earns you a strange look before you scurry back to the kitchen. Your weird pancake batter that was void of all things good and tasty should have set long enough for you to throw it on the griddle.

You prepped a caesar salad, with dressing on the side--hold the blue cheese and bacon. This was honestly the least offensive to you of the three orders, and you went out of the way to give them the nicest lettuce wedge as a thank you.

The other was well… You had to put your foot down twice. 

The first to explain that no, your kitchen did not stock tofu meat products and that you didn’t have the capacity to make a vegetarian french dip. It was a meat and cheese sandwich with a meat dipping sauce for criminy sake. 

The second time involved Rodney physically blocking the door to prevent you from dragging the oompa loompa witch out by her bleach blond hair when she insulted the competence of your kitchen and demanded you send someone out to buy her vegan bacon and egg substitute.

Okay, Rodney had technically put his foot down at that one, too, and asked her kindly to order something off of the menu. It wasn’t like you had an extensive menu with alternating specials or anything.

You had options for pretty much everyone’s dietary needs, but she was just being a witch and you would have told her that to her face if Rodney would have not parked his luscious bubble butt in front of your goddamn door.

She ended up ordering an apple sauce off of the kids menu.

Thankfully the rest of the brunch rush was over without a hitch. Most of the regulars were more than happy with the options presented to them. Still, you flopped down next to a still dozing Papyrus with a heavy sigh.

You had the option to take your break now or not at all.

Besides you should probably wake up your skelly prodigee and expand his knowledge of eggs or something.

Turns out the act of flopping was more than enough to rouse him. He shot upright and looked around frantically before his eyes landed on you.

“HUMAN! YOU LOOK QUITE FRAZZLED, YOU PROMISED TO TELL ME IF IT GOT TOO BUSY!” He sounded quite scandalized, even a little hurt and you shot him an apologetic look.

“It wasn’t that busy Paps, it was just a handful of customers who made a lot of alterations to their orders, they were giving everyone a hard time.”

This seemed to pacify him and he relaxed back into the couch picking up the book where he left off.

“Do you really need to change cutting boards for raw meat and vegetables if you are going to cook both?”

“Yup, we have special boards for both, pink dot and green dot. At home you can just chop your veggies first though.”

“Why is the doneness temperature different for chicken and beef?”

“Chicken can make you pretty sick if it's not fully cooked, some people like their beef a little pink on the inside, or a lot pink on the inside and it won’t make you sick as long as it reaches the right temperature.”

“But why does it need to get that hot?”

“To kill any bacteria that might be in the food.”

“But we wash all the food?”

“Mmhm, that takes care of the stuff on the outside, but sometimes there's bacteria in the food itself. So we sterilize it usually with heat. There are different ways, too, we just don’t really use them in this kitchen. But since we are pretty standard with our dinner fare but I’ll show you sometime. Some meat is okay to eat raw, though.”

“Like sushi?”

“Yup.”

The questions went on for a while until an order came in. 

Perfect, it was one of your regulars, some middle aged man who makes it in weekly to eat more eggs and breakfast meats than were particularly healthy. You didn’t even want to guess what the guy’s cholesterol was like.

“Let’s go, Papyrus, Congratulations, you’ve graduated from chopping things to eggs!”

“WOWIE! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THE EGGS?!”

Looking over the order, your eyes widened. This man was ordering the equivalent of eight eggs and twelve slices of bacon. With added ham and cheese seeing as he wanted an omelet. Plus four slices of toast.

“Looks like he wants an omelet, Two over easy and two poached.”

Glancing up at Papyrus you couldn’t help but grin, his eyes were sparkling and he was practically vibrating at the idea of cooking eggs in new and exciting ways.

By the end of the night you had to accept something.

You have made a monster.

Well, Papyrus was already a capital Monster, but that wasn’t the point.

You have turned this skeleton into a mean lean egg making machine. 

Ok, not mean, Papyrus didn’t have a mean bone in his body.

But in the space of his shift, you have taught this boy how to cook eggs in every way that was available at your diner. Considering the menu, that was pretty close to all the possible ways.

But that wasn’t it- he wasn’t just cooking them, they were perfect. He could flip and roll omelets  _ better _ than you could. It was like he had a sixth sense when an egg was perfectly done to the specifications of the customer. With his exuberance, he could beat scrambled eggs to the point that they were light and fluffy with ease and you saw a spark of intelligence in his eyes that spoke of just how good Papyrus was going to be at kitchen management once you taught him the ropes.

That was another thing.

You didn’t have to directly teach him, he was always watching you, taking note of what you were doing and committing it to memory. You didn’t realize at first until the third BLT of the day came in, (arguably the best sandwich if anyone asked you.) and he snatched the order slip while you were busy making a fresh batch of hollandaise sauce.

You watched in amazement as he assembled a perfect sandwich, complete with the appropriate sides of coleslaw and fries.

Once he was done he gave you a sheepish glance as if asking for approval and you easily gave him a nod and a grin. 

This boy was going to be a master of diner food within the week at this rate. 

Part of you, a dark greedy part that latched onto things you liked and screamed mine was happy that none of his other jobs gave him a chance, their loss. 

Maybe if more of your students were like Papyrus, you would have continued teaching instead of working at a greasy diner. But that didn’t matter now. You  _ liked _ your greasy diner.

“You did an excellent job today, Papyrus! If you keep this up I’ll be able to trust you to manage the kitchen by the end of the month!” 

You were prepared, mentally and physically to be lifted and squeezed tightly against the skeleton. You were quick to return it. Even if he was hard and pokey against you he gave the best hugs. Hell, you can’t even remember the last time someone wanted to hug you.

Sure, if you got particularly sloshed you would chase down Rodney and shower him in your love, and he would humor you while calling you a cab, but this was different.

“YOU ARE THE MOST WONDERFUL TEACHER, HUMAN FRIEND!” He gave you a little swing back and forth while letting out a light laugh. 

“Same time tomorrow?” You questioned, trying not to sound to eager. You weren't blushing... you just… you weren't used to hugs and compliments okay, blushing was a completely normal response!

“YES! OH!” Your feet met the ground and he took a step back to look at you, he looked a little nervous.

“Would it… be alright if some of my friends came to eat here? They want to see where I work, and I want to show them how much I’ve improved with just two lessons!”

You grin and give him a nod. “Of course, Paps!” You’ve earned yourself another hug and a spin before you bid him goodnight. You’re staying a little later tonight to go over orders with Rodney and well.

You had something you want to talk to him about.

“I don’t like your boyfriend.” You don’t even look up as you write in quantities into the order sheet. You’ve been around Rodney long enough that you could pick him out of a crowded blindfolded. He smelled like coffee and cinnamon, with a bite of whiskey and even when you can’t smell for shit you can hear the difference in his gate.

Apparently he had a bad knee injury when he used to serve? It wasn’t your business and you’ve never asked outside of your first blunt ‘Why are you limping?’ Anyway, there was a distinct walk that was all his.

“Darling, you’ve never liked any of my boyfriends.” Rodney sighed walking past you and throwing himself on the couch.

“I especially don’t like this one. He’s no good for you, and he’s no good for our restaurant. He has no right telling you how to run our place.” If anyone had that right it was you, you practically co-owned the place. You worked hard for the right to tell Rodney what you think he should do.

“I know, It's… complicated. The racism certainly is… new.” Rodney sighed. “I wish you could see the side of him that I see.”

You make a show of gagging and rolling your eyes. “I don’t, the side you see is probably naked.”

This startles a laugh out of the ginger as you tossed the order form at him. “I’m going home, I need to rest to prepare myself for another training session with my prodigy!” You announce. 

You're confused by the bewildered look that He shoots you and it takes you a moment to realize why. Was he expecting sarcasm? Perhaps dread? You thought a moment. All you could feel for tomorrow was excitement and it likely reflects in your voice.

“Nighty night Wifey, Don’t let happy hands Craig over there goose you too much, that's my job!” You chirp heading out through the back door. It swings shut just as you hear a scandalized gasp and an irritated groan from the two men in your life.

Well, perhaps you’ll have to upgrade that to three if Papyrus sticks around.

You really want him to stick around.

You make your way to your car humming happily, a good two hours after you got off. Tomorrow you think you’ll teach Papyrus about burgers, Yeah the skelly looked at anything fried or covered in grease like it deeply offended him but with dinner fare it was easier to point out the handful of non-greasy foodstuffs rather than the other way around. 

While you're at it, you’ll probably teach him roasts, you’ll need to put in a few in the morning anyway for the various sandwiches that require them the day after.

Your mental planning is cut short as you come up to your car.

Someone’s behind you. No footsteps, no sound. Just suddenly someone is there, and before, it was just you.

Before you decide what to do about this sudden presence it makes the choice for you as the world goes still and its deep foreboding baritone echoes around you.

“hey.” 


	4. Chap. 4 Words of warning, You don’t startle well.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet someone new...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh snap! Another chapter so soon!

“hey.”

They are right there. RIGHT THERE. You weren't screaming. This was your battle cry, used only in the most dire situations to alert nearby civilians of the danger and stun your enemies.

But then you realized.

You really weren't scream- performing your auditory attack.

Your jaw was clenched shut and you were frozen in place. If you concentrated you could feel a slight tingling over your body. Okay, it was perfectly acceptable to start to panic in this situation.

More so when a heavy hand lands on your shoulder and starts to turn you to face a bulky figure, face shrouded in the darkness of his hood. A small part of you was impressed a guy this big snuck up on you.

The rest of you was wondering if this was going to be how you died.

“jeez, buddy, _chill._ no reason to lose your _cool_. that's no way to greet a new pal. c’mon. shake my hand.” There was a spark of humor in the voice, but also something darker, something that sounded close to a threat.

You really, really, _really_ did not want to shake this guys hand. But it didn’t look like you have much of a choice as your hand starts to move on its own. Your palm meets something soft and plastic and boney fingers wrap tightly around yours.

A loud wet fart broke the silence and you briefly question if any of this was real.

Perhaps you fell asleep doing orders and you’re having some strange dream? Or you got hit in the head and this was some strange coma induced hallucination? Yes, both of those made a lot more sense than some guy sneaking up behind you then somehow forcing your body to move at his command to make you interact with his… whoopee cushion?

You have gone nutters. That was really the only option.

The man… skeleton… skeleman? Skeleman. But this wasn’t your skeleman, you had a pretty good idea that YOUR skeleton was above this kind of humor.

Not to mention a good three and a half feet taller than this guy.

This skeleton looked like he was a fart joke away from rolling on the ground laughing. As it was he was merely cackling. Hard enough that he had to release your hand.

“you’re looking a little _grim,_ friendo. you got a bone to pick with someone?” You had stepped back, putting your car at your back and narrowed your eyes at this strange monster.

“Well… startling anyone this late at night will get them jumping out of their skin.” humor seemed to be his thing, so you hoped it might be a bonding point, at least enough so that you weren't going to end up at knifepoint in some alley in the dark of the night.

This skeleton was as far from Papyrus as you could get. Where Papyrus was tall, loud and overall friendly to a fault.

This skeleton was short and wide, his voice deep and quiet, and he set off pretty much all of your danger alarms.

More so when he closed the distance between you, effectively pinning you against your car.  He gave a dry token laugh at your poor excuse of a joke as he looked down at you. Sure he was short compared to pretty much all the men in your life, but he was still a few inches taller than you.

“You’re more skittish than i thought you’d be. As much as paps talks about you, I figured you’d be used to seeing a walking talking skeleton.” both of his hands found their way into his pockets and you got the feeling that his piercing gaze was not looking at you, but more through you.

“Uh… It’s more the… situation than anything else. It's, ah… kinda sketchy to sneak up on someone so late at night… brochacho.” You offer him a little shrug and a smile. This guy knew Papyrus? Would it be rude to assume they were related? you weren't sure how common skeleton monsters were.

He was quiet and glared at your chest a moment longer before letting out a snort and shaking his head. “Well, pal, looks like you're not a terrible person but I’d like to leave you with a word of advice.”

You thought this guy was scary before. That was nothing compared to your thoughts now.

The little sparks of light in his eye sockets went out and his face tilted enough to outline just how threatening his grin was as he invaded your personal space by leaning just a few inches from your face. A deep growl that was just barely in your lower range of hearing echoed in his chest before he spoke.

“If you hurt papyrus... **y o u ‘ r e  g o i n g  t o  h a v e  a  b a d  t i m e .** ” You froze in place. One moment you had a beastly skeleton towering over you, and the next moment you were alone. Pressed against the side of your car and trying to remember how to breath.

“What. The. Fuck.” You finally mutter under your breath. You look up and down the street trying to find any trace of the spooky scary skeleton.

“What the fuck.” You yell into the night, one more spin before you’re scrambling to the driver's side door.

One last look around proves to you that the street was empty.

Maybe… Maybe you just hallucinated that? People don’t just disappear right? You didn’t blink or anything it was just. One moment he was there, the next he wasn’t.

You couldn’t. No. You couldn’t deal with this right now.

“What kind of freak would hurt Papyrus anyway?” You grumble to yourself as you start up your car and let it idle a minute to warm up.

You phone buzzes with a text alert.

You’d welcome something, anything to pull you back into reality, not whatever this strange alternate reality was where skeletons could disappear at will and would leave you with cryptic threats.

_Unknown Number:_

_You’d be surprised ‘brochacho’ forgot 2 mention, best keep this from paps._

“WHAT THE FUCK!” You yell in the safety of your car, spinning to make sure you really were alone. Nobody, nobody you could see anyway. Oh god, what if he could just turn invisible? He could be here right now! Locking the doors for whatever good that will do you as you stare at your phone.

Ok, the smart thing to do would be to not engage and go home. But no, your fingers were already tapping on the screen.

_You:_

_What the fuck. How do you have this number?! Who the hell are you?_

_Unknown:_

_that's need to know bucko._

_You:_

_I feel like I need to know how the spooky scary skeleton who just threatened me with a ‘bad time’ got my phone number. Who the hell are you?!_

_Unknown:_

_eeh, you’ll meet me again sooner or later buddy._

You figure you’ve sat here steaming in your car long enough and pull out of your parking spot. You needed to go home and sleep this off. You really REALLY wanted to talk to Papyrus about this.

It’s been awhile since something shook you this badly.

But shit, what do you tell him? ‘Some skeleton scared the shit out of me and he seemed to know you and threatened me with a ‘bad time’ if I hurt you?’ You didn’t even have a name, let alone a good description of him other than that he was a bit taller than you and made bad jokes.

Would that be enough? Probably not.

Maybe you could just ask how many skeleton monsters there were?

Yeah, that would work.

You opt for a quick shower when you get home before flopping on bed, barely attempting to dry off and completely ignoring night cloths and not bothering to set your alarm.

You had a feeling that your wake up call from Paps wasn’t going to be a one time thing.

And it wasn’t.

At least this time you were mostly awake. Having slept very poorly the night before you have given up on sleep and in favor of tapping at your phone playing one of the dumb games you’ve downloaded and touched once or twice.

Crushing all of the candies in a half asleep state was a much better option than being plagued with dreams where you can’t move and being taunted by a deep menacing voice.

So at least when your phone rang at six this morning you were already awake.

Sort of, you were nearing a zombie like state at this point as your phone buzzed in your hands. You stared at it a long moment, taking you longer than you liked to admit to realize that it was a call and not just some new strange level of candy crush.

“Morning Pap-”

“GOOD MORNING HUMAN FRIEND!”

You would blame the lack of sleep for the flare of giddiness at being referred to as ‘friend’. Not that it was first time, he used that title quite often yesterday, it was just… nice.

“Checking to see if I am up and ready for our early morning lessons skeleton friend?”

“YES! ALSO I ENJOY TALKING TO YOU!” There was a particular squeel to his voice, an extra hint of excitement for the already excited skeleton. Maybe he liked being referred to as friend as much as you did.

You sat up, stretching and letting out a happy sigh as your back popped. You weren't expecting the startled gasp from the other end of the phone.

“H-Human. Are you alright!?” His voice was low and worried.

“Huh? Yeah, just stretching. I didn’t sleep very well so I’m going to have to stop for coffee before work.” You hummed. A cool shift of air reminded you that you had not bothered to put on your jammies.

“Rod will have a pot, but I need the kind of boost only expresso can give.” You pull out the shirt on top of your pile and a pair of jeans, tossing them on the bed before pulling out some socks and underthings from the top drawer.

“WOWIE, THERE IS SOMETHING STRONGER THAN THAT COFFEE DRINK?!” Papyrus seemed genuinely surprised.

“Haha, yeah. Though maybe it will be a bad idea for you to have some seeing how coffee affects you. Maybe on a day off?” Yeah, that sounded like a good idea, better to deal with the caffeine rush and following crash when you don’t have a kitchen to manage.

“NO THANK YOU. WHILE I ENJOYED THE EXTRA ENERGY I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY MY BROTHER DOESN'T SHARE THE DRINK.” You heard some shuffling on his end and you can’t help but wonder if he is getting ready for the day too.

“Today's the day your friends are coming in right?” Dressing with one hand is a challenge but you seem to be managing fairly well.

“AH! YES! THAT REMINDS ME! SANS, YOU LAZYBONES! WAKE UP!” You hear some sleepy low mumbling on the other end and extend a bit of sympathy to Papyrus’ brother. You have a sneaking suspicion that being woken up at 6am was hardly a rare occurrence.

“YES I KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! I AM GETTING READY FOR WORK AND TALKING WITH MY COOL HUMAN FRIEND.” he was answered by another low mumble. But you were to busy to try and decipher it, Papyrus had just called you his ‘cool’ human friend.

The beginning of day three, and you were already upgraded to being a ‘cool’ friend.

“I WANTED TO EXTEND AN INVITATION, UNDYNE, AND ALPHYS ARE COMING TO MY WORKPLACE FOR LUNCH! YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME BROTHER, YOU CAN MEET MY COOL HUMAN FRIEND AS WELL AS BOSS. THOUGH I SUPPOSE MY HUMAN FRIEND IS ALSO A BOSS… AND A TEACHER!”

More low mumbling, this time with a slightly apologetic tone. “Ah… Very well brother. Another time.” There was only a beat before he was talking directly back into the phone.

“I REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT MY BROTHER WON’T BE ABLE TO MAKE IT. HE HAS A JOB INTERVIEW. BUT YOU’LL BE ABLE TO MEET MY OLD TEACHER, CURRENT BESTIE, AND HER NEAT GIRLFRIEND!”

“Aw, that’s alright Paps. Tell your bro I look forward to meeting him later! I should finish getting ready. See you in a few hours?” Your mind flashed briefly to the skeleton from last night. But you dismissed it. No, that couldn’t be Papyrus’ brother. Nothing so dark and menacing could be related to the living embodiment of sunshine that was The Great Papyrus.

“YES! I AM EXCITED FOR MY THIRD DAY OF WORK AND LESSONS!” You exchange goodbyes and quickly finish getting ready.

Around seven thirty you park by a cafe that’s near your work. A bit farther than you normally park but still within walking distance. It was a local place that boasted roasting its own beans and charged you an extra dollar for the trouble.

You order your usual, as well as Rodney’s before you pause. You wanted to get something for Papyrus, but you knew coffee was a no go. After another moment of hesitation you order a hot chocolate for the tall skeleton.

It was sweet, and filled you with warm fuzzies just like the Lanky skeleton did. You hoped he liked it. You paid the cat monster who was looking particularly frazzled while you pushed down these feelings that were moving from friendship crush to dangerous crush crush territory.

The big tip you left the monster brought a genuine tired smile and an unprompted drink carrier to make the two block trek to your work a bit easier.

About half a block from work A cherry red convertible slides into the spot in front of you and part of you wasn’t at all surprised that Papyrus jumped out of it. The other part of you was insanely jealous of how sexy his car was.

“Dang Papy! You never told me you were driving around in such a cool sports car!” You greet as he runs up to you. He skids to a stop, hug aborted as soon as his sockets landed on the hot drinks in your clutches. He made do with a friendly shoulder squeeze.

“OF COURSE! EVER SINCE I WAS A BABYBONES I DREAMED OF DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY, WIND IN MY HAIR! SO AS SOON AS THE BARRIER BROKE IT WAS THE FIRST THING I BOUGHT!” He posed dramatically and a bit of wind kicked up his scarf.

You grinned and checked your cups, pulling out the one that was marked for him. “Here, we’ll have to take your car whenever we go on lessons that involve travel then! It's a lot cooler than mine.”

He gave a grin and a nod before gingerly taking the cup from you, eyeing it with suspicion.

“Don’t worry, it's not coffee.” You offer and that seemed to be the right thing to say because he finally took a sip.

Kind of? He didn’t really have the lips for the action but he poured just a bit between his teeth with a practiced grace.

The question was on your lips but was cut off by a startled gasp as you saved the remaining cups. Papyrus had snaked his free arm around you and pulled you into a hug.

“WOWIE! YOUR FRIENDSHIP POWER IS AMAZING IF YOU COULD GUESS HOW MUCH I LIKE HOT CHOCOLATE!” Ok, at this rate it was almost a cuddle the way he was nuzzling into the top of your head.

You had calmed down enough to go from a burning fire engine red to a pleasant strawberry blush by the time you had made it to the diner. You placed your offering before Rodney and receive a grumble of thanks before retreating to the back with Papyrus in tow.

You had three-ish hours before opening, plenty of time for a lesson and to get warmed up before his friends arrived around noon.

“Ok Paps, Help me grab some of the roasts from the cooler, Today’s half off sandwiches so we are going to need to be prepared for that!

It went well, after a minor exception that no, cranking the oven up to 500 degrees fahrenheit would not make them cook twice as fast and would infact burn them on the outside and leave the inside an unappetizing combination of dry and raw.

About an hour into the roasts you took a pan and roasted several handfuls of garlic cloves. Papyrus had skinned and cleaned all of the garlic in yesterday's caffeine induced stupor.

You spent the rest of the early morning before work hours going over the different sandwiches and burgers on the menu, explaining that was today's focus. If Papyrus had lips, you were sure they would be pouting at the thought of greasy burgers and fried foods.

But you had thought of that. Right before opening, as a practical test, you had him fry up and plate two burgers.

These would turn into an early lunch for the pair of you.

One, yours, was a classic beef patty with bacon, swiss, and mushrooms, the Shroom Burger from the menu. The other was a leaner turkey burger with brie and arugula, with a red sauce on the bun. A much lighter and far from greasy burger and a play on chicken parm, kinda, it was tasty and that's what mattered.

It was even served with a nice little greek side salad.

You leaned against the counter, watching and providing comments about when to flip, how much to season. When he should put the cheese on and drop the fries. But you never directly touched any of it.

It was all on Papyrus.

And he was doing spectacularly.

So well that if you had to guess the sneaky skelly was probably watching you do burgers yesterday and just humored you through most of your half hour of rambling about the yes and no’s of burger etiquette.

He pulled yours off first. You had asked for medium well, and by the time that yours had been finished being served his was finished cooking.

Papyrus was visibly sweating little light orange beads of perspiration as you inspected the burgers with a critical eye. You lifted the top bun of both, checking the appropriate amount and layering of toppings, as well as the amounts of spread. The burgers appeared to be properly seared so they weren't dripping all over the bun, Your fries were beautifully golden and his salad looked crisp and lightly dressed.

They looked perfect.

You grin up at him, picking up your burger and taking a big bite. You couldn’t help the little moan of appreciation. It was perfect for a first burger. Hell, It was perfect for a diner veteran. You would be proud to serve a burger like this.

You look up to see a dusting of orange across Papyrus’ cheekbones and you put your burger down and pull him into a hug. It’s okay if you initiate the huging, right? He’s a very physical person and you’ve already lost count of how many hugs he’s pulled you into.

“Its perfect Papyrus. You’re the greatest student I’ve ever had!”

Maybe it wasn’t okay? He seems frozen for a moment but before you can pull away he loops an arm around your back and hugs you much more softly than you are used to, his free hand tilting up your chin to look at him.

He was starting to resemble a traffic cone with how dark his cheeks were tinted. “R-really?” His voice was soft and almost cute with how unsure he was and his eye sockets were searching your face for the truth.

You give him a reassuring nod and grin. “Of course. But what else would I expect from THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” You give him a little squeeze before releasing him and giving a nod to the burgers. “Go on, try mine if you don’t believe me.”

He gave you a searching look before gingerly picking up your burger and taking a bite. This brought a flush to your own face.

It's been a long time since you’ve been comfortable enough to actually share food with someone. Sure you would cook for people, share a meal. But sharing off of your own plate was different. In such a short time, Papyrus has worked himself into a special place in your heart reserved for the few people who would not receive a fork to the hand for taking something off of _your_ plate.

That was different.

You stopped internally beating yourself up when Papyrus let out a happy hum that was near a purr. “WOWIE! EVEN IF IT IS A BIT GREASIER AND FATTIER THAN I PREFER, IT IS STILL VERY GOOD!”

“Try yours! I think you’ll like it even more.” You grin as he places your burger back on your plate. You sample a few of the perfectly golden fries.

Papyrus took a nervous bite of his burger and froze. Your grin fell slightly as you watched him. Maybe you guessed wrong, maybe he wouldn’t like this burger at all.

Papyrus slowly put down the burger and turned to you with an oddly serious face as he bent down to be eye to eye socket with you.

“Paps?” You questioned nervously before two large hands land on your shoulder and you cut off your question with an extremely dignified squeak.

He called your name, in that soft serious tone you’ve not heard since the first day, though there was no sadness in it this time.

“You must never tell my brother how I feel about this burger.” there are sparkles in his eyes, but his smile is still flat and serious.

“Secret's safe with me.” As soon as the words left your mouth, his hands slid down. One around your lower back and the other behind your knees as he picked you up fully.

You wrapped your arms and legs around him, clinging for dear life as he spun.

“IT WAS AMAZING! I CAN’T BELIEVE I COOKED SOMETHING SO GREAT! IT IS A VERY CLOSE SECOND TO HOW MUCH I LOVE SPAGHETTI!” He rambled on and on, but you lose track of what he’s saying and let out a near manic giggle as you try not to focus on how his face is nuzzling into your chest or how strong he must be to manhandle you the way he does.

After a few more spins, he puts you down. Seeming to realize the intimacy of the hold and flushing a dark orange. “I’m sorry human, I’m just so very happy!”

“It’s okay Papyrus, I’m glad I found a burger that you like! I’m proud of you, learning how to cook them so well in such a short time! Let’s enjoy our meal before it’s time to start.”

You take another bite of your burger and chase it with a few fries. Papyrus tries the salad and hums happily at it before something seems to strike him.

“Oh! But… as much as I like it, how do I know if it is correct unless someone who has tried it before tastes it?” His flush is back again and he’s not making eye contact when he pushes the plate to you.

Part of you wonders if this is just nervousness and seeking your approval. Or the start of something else.

You finish munching down on your fry and pick up his burger, angling it so you can get a bite of everything, not particularly caring that in doing so your bite overlaps his own.

You let out a little moan as you slowly chew and savor it. Letting your eyes drift close.

“It’s perfect, Papyrus.”  You feel a boney digit on your cheek and it slowly swipes towards your mouth.

“Yeah?”

You couldn’t describe what color you must have turned as all the heat rushed towards your face as your eyes pop open.

His hand pulls away showing a smear of red sauce he must have wiped from your cheek as he brought the thumb to his teeth and saw a glimpse of something orange before he turned back to his burger.

“Yeah.”


	5. Chap. 5  ...Fishsticks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Dusts off account and fanfictions.
> 
> Hey guys. Long time no see. I… Honestly, don’t expect anyone who followed my fics to still be on the lookout for them it's been so long. But on the off chance that you are still around ‘I’m Sorry’ doesn’t begin to cover it for disappearing for as long as I did.
> 
> I’ll post the rest below if you're interested in why I’ve been gone. My tumblr, that is dustier than my fanfiction account, is over here →
> 
>  
> 
> [Its NSFW so Children Beware.](http://allipuss.tumblr.com/)

Okay. Don’t think about it.

Don’t think about skeletons having tongues. Don’t think about that cute little dusting of orange across Papyrus’ cheekbones.

Stop.

Thinking.

ABOUT IT!

Don’t do it. Don’t ask the question that is practically killing you to ask.

“Papyrus, why do you have a-...” You were interrupted by a flustered Rodney coming through the kitchen door. His eyes frantic as they landed on you and Papyrus. As the door closed behind him you couldn’t help but notice how much more hectic it had gotten out in the front room.

“Alright, So some friends of Papyrus’ are here… and The tall fish woman just suplex'ed me in… friendship?” You were instantly interested in what was going on out there, now that you knew that someone in Papyrus’ little friend group not only picked up Rodney you beefcake of a work-wife but suplex'ed him?! That sounded like someone you needed to know!

“Papyrus! You didn’t tell me that two of your friends were the Queen and the ambassador!” Rodney all but hissed as he approached the two of you. Papyrus gave Rodney a sheepish look before turning to you for help.

Not that he would find it. You were too busy internally freaking out. The Queen. The goddamn Queen of Monsters was out there, with the little ambassador. You didn’t have food you could make in this grease trap you called home that was fit for royalty. Hell! This place wasn’t fit for royalty. Even after it been vigorously cleaned and scrubbed it still had that dingy oldness to it that most dives had.

And the Queen of monsters was just out there in the dark and ratty front room?!

A firm skeleton hand on your shoulder pulled you out of your thoughts. With a gentle squeeze, Papyrus drew your attention back to him A soft reassuring smile across his face. A glance to the side shows that he had also managed to calm down Rodney to some extent.

“YOU DO NOT NEED TO WORRY! THE QUEEN IS VERY NICE AND REALLY PREFERS NOT TO BE REFERRED TO AS THE QUEEN! SHE’S A NICE LADY AND FRISK IS ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS! YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IMPRESSING THEM! AFTER ALL, THIS PLACE IS GREAT ENOUGH TO SEE THE POTENTIAL IN THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE IMPRESSED!” Another little squeeze and he released you. Rodney was now blushing profusely.

You could hug Papyrus. Hell, you could kiss him… Okay, don’t think about kissing after the whole revelation of what Papyrus was packing behind his teeth.

But your sou chef in training's little pep talk made you feel ready to face royalty. Well, maybe not face them, but at least cook for them!

Rodney had a similar look of resolving. He gave a little nod before straightening up and exiting the kitchen.

You were glad they came in a bit before the lunch rush, it gave you time to focus on their orders, as well as talk Papyrus through them. This was his what? Third day? Geez, talk about trial by fire!

But you couldn’t help but believe in your boney prodigy. His enthusiasm and willingness to learn made up for the utter inexperience. As well as the disastrous prior knowledge placed in him by Undyne.

Undyne.

She was out there… with the queen, the monster ambassador, and her girlfriend.

You couldn’t help but crack your knuckles at the thought of her, at how much damage control you had to do because of her ‘cooking’ lessons.

Before you could go and sneak a peek at the monsters one of the waitresses came in with the order slip for their table.

Well, knowing Papyrus the two of you would be hand delivering these.

Soon.

No… it wouldn’t be appropriate to punch someone in front of the Queen of all monsters. Let alone in front of Papyrus. No… This would be recon, you’d get a face to go with the plan, build a battle plan on how to confront her and prepare one hell of a telling to for the woman.

“WOWIE! THEY CERTAINLY ORDERED A LOT!” Papyrus voice cut through your internal planning to look at their ticket. It was quickly followed by a low whistle.

“Welp. We better get started.”

Alphys was probably the easiest. She had ordered a _Bánh mì*_ inspired burger and a large soda. It was a simple and light burger and after you directed Papyrus to the right seasonings he had the patty formed and on the grill.

Frisk was a close second. Wanting a simple BLT and a milkshake.

The Queen ended up ordering two different salads and a lemonade. If she was as big as she looked on TV you don’t blame her for eating so much. She was at least as tall as Papyrus. You resolved to give her a bit on the bigger portion side when it came to the salads.

Undyne…

Undyne was proving herself to be a special kind of problem. Her order, you could only see as some kind of insane test.

She wanted a meatball sub, A plate of Spaghetti, and a breakfast platter with a side of pancakes. To wash it all down she had gotten a Green tea milkshake.

“How can one woman eat this much?!” Looks like she had picked something from each section of the menu.

“UNDYNE IS VERY ACTIVE LIKE ME! SO SHE NEEDS A LOT OF FOOD TO REPLACE HER ENERGY! THOUGH… THIS IS A LOT, EVEN FOR HER.” Papyrus gave a worried hum.

“Okay Pap, No worries and scoot over, I’m going to start her eggs and Pancakes on this side of the grill if you want to get started on the spaghetti sauce?”

You were done in record time. Just as you expected Papyrus wanted you to come out and serve his friends with him.

You shouldn’t feel nervous, you knew this was coming. Hell, you had laid claim to his days off in favor of teaching him to cook for the near future. Meeting his friends was going to happen.

You had Alphys’, The Queen’s and Frisk’s meals balanced carefully, while Papyrus tackled the entirety of Undyne’s and lead the way.

“NYGH I can’t BELIEVE those protesters have the gall to try and take this from us! We worked so HARD to get citizenship!” You heard a slam and the clatter of silverware.

“U-Undyne, c-c-careful!” Where the first voice was gravelly and aggressive this one was quiet and meek.

“Undyne!” This voice was stern and motherly. The scolding tone had you instinctually standing taller. “We are here to support Papyrus! Not talk about politics! Protesting is perfectly legal as long as no one is harmed.”

Oh Geez, maybe you should just drop off the plates and duck back into the kitchen. This sounded personal and they were here for Papyrus. You were just a tag along.

“Yeah… Your right. Besides. I want to meet this new mentor the dweeb won’t shut up about!” Shit… No hiding away now.

“Papyrus!”

Shit,  you've been spotted.  Well, Papyrus has you could still make a run for it…

“Who is that punk hiding behind you looking like they’re about to run away!?!” Oh God damn.

“THIS IS MY WONDERFUL TEACHER AND BOSS!” Papyrus thankfully deposited his platters before gesturing and giving your name.

You place down your own trays before returning next to Papyrus. Opening your mouth to give your own greeting.  But the tall muscular beast of a fish monster beats you to it.

“WHAT! This wimpy squirt?! I Would have been okay with that burly redhead but I could take this half pint on blindfolded!” She scoffed at you.

You narrowed your eyes at her. Before you thought better of it, you opened your mouth to speak again.

“Well, You're halfway to being blindfolded and I already know I have you beat when it comes to cooking.”

…

You really shouldn’t be let out of the kitchen.

Everyone seemed to be glancing between you and Undyne. You were done with this. You’d been threatened not even 10 hours ago, you hadn’t slept and you were still hung up on the little thing with Papyrus. Now this woman was going to insult you?!

No!

You would not take this from her, not from the person responsible for pushing Papyrus so far down the path of culinary disaster!

You were probably about to die judging from the look Undyne was giving you but you would go out fighting. You didn’t miss how Papyrus was edging just ever so slightly closer to you.

...

“FU HU HU, You got some guts human!” Undyne Broke into boisterous laughter before throwing herself back into her chair.

The little ambassador rapidly signed something to which Alphys nodded and the Queen let out a thoughtful hum.

“Oh dear, it does seem so Frisk.”

Guess you would remain out of the loop.

You were saved from more awkward interactions by front door heralding a small herd of college kids.

“Hey, Papyrus, why don’t you take a fifteen to hang out with your friends, I’ll go get things started for this bunch.” You spoke quickly, before giving him a chance to respond you gave him a little shove towards the group.

“It was nice to meet you guys,” Well, most of them. “But I need to head back to the kitchen. Don’t keep my prodigy to long.” You tried not to think about how you stressed the word and quickly retreated.

You pretended not to hear several calls of your name, It would be fine once you were out of sight.

…

Okay. You really needed to get to that ticket. It’s been there five minutes and you hadn’t calmed down yet. You had made a complete ass of yourself in front of Papyrus and his friends. This was a big thing for him and you couldn’t take some needling from one of them?!

No.

Of course not.

This is why you didn’t have friends. This is why you didn’t go out and deal with customers.

You couldn’t. Your socially incapable and you probably just chased away one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.

Ticket.

Go deal with the Ticket.

Stop thinking about what a fuck up you are and do your goddamn job!

You take a breath then another before you finally go and look at it. Mostly sandwiches and sides that are already made. Nice and simple.

You drop a basket of fries and start making the first of six sandwiches.

Ham, cheese, lettuce, Tomato, and mustard. This one needed to be grilled.

He revered her, idolized her.

Turkey, coleslaw, pickles… What the hell wrong with this kid?

You not only called her a bad cook but made fun of the fact that she was blind in one eye!

Turkey, roast beef, cheese, horseradish. Another for the grill.

The hell was wrong with you.

You got lost in the assembly line of it all. Got lost in your head.

You must not have responded the first few times Papyrus called your name while you focused on slicing onions to grill and stick on top of the french dip.

But you certainly heard him the last time, worry clear in his voice as it came from right beside you.

You don’t startle well.

On the bright side kitchen knives are so sharp you barely felt a thing.

On the less than bright side, you would need to redo the onions and sterilize all of this.

And stop the bleeding.

“Ah…” Not the most intelligent response when one slices halfway through their finger. Before you can even do anything about it Papyrus was pulling you to the sink.

“OH STARS, I DIDN’T MEAN TO SCARE YOU.”

It was okay… you weren't mad at Papyrus. You don’t think you could be. Ah but the water certainly stung the cut. You should probably reassure him that it wasn’t his fault… and tell him where the medical stuff is.

“Papyrus…” you started only to fall short as he finally pulled your hand out from under the water. Not that that was what startled you. Wisps of orange gathered in Papyrus’ eye socket. It was beautiful and if you were honest… kind of scary when combined with the focused look.

“P-pap?” Why were you scared… You had no reason to be! Sure last night you had a run in with a spooky scary skeleton who seemed to outright hate you. Sure you didn’t really sleep, and you just made a complete ass of yourself in front of Papyrus and his closest friends, and now… Now you were slowly dripping blood against his white bones as he delicately brought a finger to your cut.

Your eyes stung, you weren't crying. You weren't. Crying was on the list of many things you did not do. Definitely not in public. You were just overwhelmed is all. It happens to the best of them and a lot of things have been happening lately.

The finger started to glow. The same wispy orange as the… Magic? Leaking from Papyrus’ socket.

It made you feel warm and bubble. It felt like a hug and left you feeling cared for. Not only did your cut start to stitch back together you felt a knot inside of you slowly unwind. Unfortunately, that knot was also what you were using to brace yourself.

As the first few tears fell his magic slowly faded, leaving behind a little scar that had a faint orange tint to it before that started to fade as well. You ducked your head, trying to hide the fact that you were breaking down in the workplace. He was quiet as he washed his hands than cleaned up the cutting board and ruined onions. You didn’t like the quite. It felt so wrong coming from him.

You fucked up… You had to try and fix what was left of this. Whatever this work friendship/mentorship was.

“I’m...Sorry Papyrus.” You wished you could hide the huskiness of your voice, you wish you would stop crying and shaking. You were so tired and this morning felt like it happened days ago.

But at least your husky tear-strained voice broke the quiet.

He stammered you name, worry on his face and voice as he reached for you, falling short. “Did I hurt you?! I should have asked before healing you but it's bad for humans to lose so much of your juice!”

You didn’t even get to fully enjoy Papyrus calling blood juice as you shook your head.

“No… That's okay. That was really cool. I just… I was rude to your friends…” Apologizing wasn’t really something you did… but you couldn’t stand disappointing the skeleton.

Papyrus regarded you with a look of confusion before it seemed to click. “Undyne was also a bit rude. I did give her a telling to for scaring you away. She is a very good friend but she can be abrasive at first. That is why I came in here to check on you. To make sure there were no hard feelings.”

He finally settled for patting your shoulder. You let out a chuckle.

You had been overthinking it, of course, you had been.

“No hard feelings Papyrus. You can go back out to your friends if you want while I finish this order.” You grinned up at him, you felt you were doing a stellar job of looking fairly put together considering how you had been crying a few minutes ago.

“Nyeh… I would rather help you back here. I will see them later tonight after all!”

A small jealous part of you was happy he picked being back here in the kitchen with you.

 

 

 

 

_*Bánh mì - Is a type of Vietnamese bread, but it also refers to a Vietnamese sandwich. Personally one of my favorites in the sandwich department but I’m a big sucker for Vietnamese food. (It’s been impossible to find any good Vietnamese now that I’ve moved to the east coast. TT_TT)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I mentioned in August I was moving? I think I did but I will mention it again. I moved, from the pacific northwest to the coast of Virginia. It is almost as far away as I can get from where I grew up. Left behind all my friends and family to start a new life here. Clean slate.
> 
> Nobody ever talks about how hard that is. 
> 
> I got within a few weeks of landing here, Min wage is really awful in Virginia, there are places where it is worse, but not many. It's a good job, I like it, I get to work with animals. It’s a lot of work, though. And it's super draining. Having a full-time job really eats up free time. Depression doesn’t help. And I’ll be honest it's been getting worse and worse to the point I’ve made an appointment so I can discuss getting back on medication. 
> 
> But I can’t continue on the way I have been. Working and then coming home and barely having the energy to cook or spend time with friends via online or with my significant other. I work and I sleep. That’s all I really do right now. Days off, if It's not shared with my other than I can almost guarantee that I won’t wake up until I have to. Its… awful. I hate being like this. I hate the fact that I am distancing myself from writing and art, things I love. That I’m pulling away from friends because I just can’t. 
> 
> I want to be normal. I want to be happy.
> 
> Some good things that have happened since my move. I’ve made some great new friends! I got involved in an RP group and fell back in love with roleplaying. If I’m honest it's one of the reasons I managed to actually work on chapters again. 
> 
> I adopted two leopard geckos! They are named Andy and Frank. They are both girls.
> 
> I’ve started a school/training program that will let me function fully as a dog groomer! It's a lot of fun and I enjoy it so far. 
> 
> For the future, I can’t promise consistency. I’m not sure when I will be able to write or post something. But I will finish what I’ve started. Even if it takes a while. ‘I’m Fine’ is going to get some touch-up and continuity fixes. ‘I need to tell you something…’ the will to. I’ll post any changes I make. ‘Static’ will eventually get a continuation of sorts but that's a long ways off. I’m going to post a one-shot series because I have a few smutty and angsty ones that I use as warm ups to get me in the writing mood.
> 
> That is it I think. The basics of it all anyway. I’m sorry again for disappearing, I’ll try not to do it again but if it does happen again. I’m sorry for that too.

**Author's Note:**

> I have 4ish chapters of this written out so I'll post fairly regularly right now. But after I'm posting the backlog I'm going to focus on writing the next chapter of I'm Fine.


End file.
